Friday, November 30, 2012

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Nine years ago, Japanese photographer Miyoko Ihara began snapping pictures of the relationship between her grandmother and her odd-eyed white cat. Miyoko's 88 year old grandma Misao found the abandoned cat in a shed on her land and the pair have barely been apart since.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money. Joe Weinstein

Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? We come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! - Anne Tyler

You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'My God, you're right!
I never would've thought of that!' - Dave Barry

Dogs are not our whole life, but they do make our
lives whole. – Roger Caras

Saturday, November 24, 2012

A few days ago I published a blog about Loch Ness, in which I made mention of the so-called Loch Ness Monster (or ‘monsker’ as I like to call it). Presumably the Monsker is a holdover dinosaur, which have been extinct for some millions of years. This led to one of my followers (thanks, Lynn) to send me a link with the following information --

Birds really are dinosaurs, and a sparrow or a blackbird is every bit as much a dinosaur as Tyrannosaurus or Stegosaurus.

The dinosaurs first arose in the Late Triassic period about 225m years ago. No specific ancestral species is identified, but we recognise that there is a distinct lineage of animals that can be grouped together by shared features of their anatomy that we call dinosaurs. Living birds are literally dinosaurs by definition.
This means several things, most obviously the fact that dinosaurs are not actually extinct. Most lineages of course have gone: every dinosaur lineage except the birds is extinct (and indeed various birds are no longer with us). Second, this means that when biologists and palaeontologists talk about dinosaurs, they actually generally mean all dinosaurs except the birds.

It's really quite relevant, as accuracy is an inherent part of science communication and the statement that "dinosaurs are extinct" is incorrect, whereas "non-avian dinosaurs are extinct" is correct. Third and most amazingly, we have dinosaurs everywhere around us.

We have dinosaurs nesting in trees in our gardens, tiny dinosaurs that can hover and fly backwards and feed on nectar, aquatic dinosaurs that live in Antarctica. There are dinosaurs that we eat, (chicken, turkey), we have dinosaurs that can circle the globe without landing, intelligent and puzzle-solving dinosaurs, tall and flightless dinosaurs that can sprint at over 40 miles an hour, (ostrich) and brightly colored and beautiful dinosaurs almost too numerous to mention.

The world is replete with these animals and they live on every continent and inhabit almost every ecological niche going. We might consider the Earth to be ruled by the mammals at the moment (and it's not an unfair position) but there are some 10,000 of bird compared with a more modest 6,000 mammals (give or take). In some ways, at least, dinosaurs still rule the roost.

(So my two little characters are my own dinosaurs!)

Did I read that right?

Kids Make Nutritious SnacksDo they taste like chicken?
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Local High School Dropouts Cut in HalfChainsaw Massacre all over again!
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Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot DoctorsBoy, are they tall!
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Loch Ness, a huge lake in Scotland, and its surroundings, are really quite beautiful.

Here is a photo of the loch itself. It is about 1 mile wide and about 23 miles long. It is also so

deep that it holds more water than all of the other lakes in England.

Here is the shoreline.

The surrounding area is quite hilly. The outcropping of rocks tell geologists a great deal about the

history of this area. Although I have no photos to show you, the rocks on either side of the loch are

not at all like, and come from different parts of the earth.

Old castle ruins

One of the streams that feeds the loch.

Surely you have heard of the Loch Ness monster. In fact, here is a photograph.

Well, don’t take that too seriously. As I searched on Google to learn more about the monster, it told of many sightings. What it did not say however, is what the people had to drink before hand. If this is supposed to

be an ancient dinosaur, there is a bit of a problem with that notion. We are told that the

dinosaurs died out several million years before Loch Ness was formed. Go figure.

DOGS

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. -

Andy Rooney

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made. -

M. Acklam

I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. -